What Is Copilot? (Formerly Bing Chat)

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Microsoft’s Copilot, formerly known as Bing Chat, is an AI-powered chatbot designed to assist users with various tasks. Unveiled in early 2022, Copilot is powered by cutting-edge technology that even surpasses OpenAI’s GPT-41. It is a versatile tool that can assist with creative tasks, solve complex math or coding problems, and even generate images from text.

Microsoft upgrades AI chatbot capabilities and switches brands to co-pilot

What is Copilot?

Copilot is an AI chatbot developed by Microsoft. Initially launched as Bing Chat, it was rebranded as Copilot at the Microsoft Ignite event in November. Copilot is designed to provide detailed, human-like responses to user questions, and can be used for a wide range of tasks, from writing a poem to solving complex math problems. Copilot is integrated into several Microsoft products, including Windows 11, SharePoint Online, and Microsoft 365. It is also available as a standalone web service.

Microsoft announced in November 2022 that it is rebranding its AI chatbot, formerly called Bing Chat, as Copilot. This news comes with several major upgrades coming soon to the conversational AI.

The most notable upgrade is the integration with OpenAI’s latest natural language model, GPT-4 Turbo. This more advanced model has knowledge of events up to April 2023 and a context window that is 2.7 times larger than previous versions, allowing for more nuanced conversations.

In addition to the rebrand and GPT-4 Turbo integration, Microsoft will soon unveil other new capabilities for Copilot:

  • Inline Compose feature for Edge to rewrite content
  • Improved multimodal search with image input
  • Code interpreter to explain code snippets

Microsoft believes these upgrades will “take Copilot’s capabilities to the next level” and further differentiate the company from competitors like ChatGPT. The tech giant wants to make Copilot as capable yet accessible as possible.

Chatbot faced early controversies

Copilot, originally launched in February 2022, was criticized early on for its lack of limits, leading to concerning responses. However, Microsoft saw it as an opportunity to learn and has since introduced chat limits.

The chatbot uses AI to provide detailed, conversational answers to source-cited questions. It also accepts image input, unlike most chatbots. While not without its flaws, Copilot solves some key issues faced by competitors and remains an intriguing alternative in the AI ​​space.

Features of Copilot

Copilot is built on the latest major language models, GPT-4 and DALL-E 3, and relies on the Bing search index to provide answers with the most up-to-date information. It offers a range of features including:

  • Creative help: Copilot can help users with creative tasks, such as writing a poem, essay, or song.
  • Troubleshooting: It can solve complex math or coding tasks.
  • Image generation: Copilot can generate images from text using Bing’s Image Creator.
  • Integration with Microsoft products: Copilot is integrated into several Microsoft products, including Windows 11, SharePoint Online, and Microsoft 365.
  • Data protection: For business and educational organizations, Copilot adds commercial data protection when eligible users sign in with their work or school account.

Copilot use cases

Copilot has a wide range of use cases across industries. In SharePoint Online, it can streamline document collaboration, improve project management, improve intranet development, automate workflows, and improve data security. In Microsoft 365, it can boost creativity, enable a natural flow of meetings, and capture key ideas and action items. In terms of coding, GitHub Copilot acts as an AI pair programmer and helps developers with code completion, error messages, and other aspects of coding. It can also speed up unit testing, provide great naming conventions, and generate boilerplate code8.

Use Copilot

To use Copilot, users must log in to the Copilot website with a Microsoft account or an Entra ID. For now, Copilot is only available for Microsoft Edge and Chrome browsers, on Windows and Mac OS.

Access to Copilot (Bing Chat)

There are several ways to access Bing Chat:

  • Web-based Bing chat: Visit https://www.bing.com and select the chat button1.
  • Microsoft Edge sidebar: Download Microsoft Edge for a more integrated Bing Chat experience. Bing Chat is built into the browser sidebar for quick and easy access. If you’re using Microsoft Edge, select the Bing Chat icon to open the Bing Chat window.
  • Mobile apps: Bing Chat can also be accessed on your smartphone or tablet. To use Bing Chat on the go, you’ll need to download the Microsoft Bing or Microsoft Edge mobile app on iOS or Android.

Using Copilot (Bing Chat)

Once you open Bing Chat, you can choose the conversation style you want the AI-powered search assistant to use. You have three options: Creative, Professional and Friendly. To start a conversation, simply type your question or command into the chat box. Bing Chat can help with several tasks, such as:

  • Research: You can ask Bing Chat to provide summaries of articles, books, events, news, sports results, etc.
  • Generate content: Bing Chat can generate text and images, reformat text, and update images.
  • Product comparisons: You can ask Bing Chat to compare different products1.

Bing Chat also offers seamless Excel integration, allowing users to edit and export data tables to Excel for improved productivity.

Bing Chat venture

Bing Chat Enterprise is a version of Bing Chat that is secure and suitable for the workplace. It is available at no additional cost to all customers with Microsoft 365 Business Standard and Microsoft 365 Business Premium licenses. To get started, go to www.bing.com/chat and sign in with your Microsoft 365 Business Standard or Microsoft 365 Business Premium work account.

Tips and tricks

  • Bing Chat allows you to request 30 chats per session, and a total of 300 chats per day.
  • Bing Chat now supports more countries and languages ​​for voice input.
  • Bing Chat now offers a mobile widget that can be added to your iOS or Android home screen for quick access.
  • Bing Chat supports conversations across platforms. If you start your conversation with Bing Chat on desktop and then need to leave, you can continue that conversation on your mobile device.
  • Bing Chat now offers seamless Excel integration, allowing users to edit and export data tables to Excel for improved productivity.

Remember that Bing Chat is a powerful tool that can help you with various tasks, making your browsing experience more efficient and productive.

Conclusion

Microsoft’s Copilot is a versatile AI chatbot that can assist users with a wide range of tasks. Whether you need help with a creative project, a complex math problem, or a coding assignment, Copilot is designed to provide detailed, human-like answers. Thanks to its integration into several Microsoft products and its commitment to data protection, Copilot is a powerful tool for both individuals and organizations.

🌟 Do you have burning questions about Copilot? Do you need some extra help with AI tools or something else?

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